Burning Steel
by Chris I. Deck
Summary: Note: this story is the sequel to "Who Needs Sanity?". Pit's world is falling apart. human cities are crumbling around him as a new threat emerges from the fire. Who is this new threat and can Pit prevail, or will he die trying?
1. Prologue

The armored figure was quivering with excitement. After all the planning and rehearsal, the Master Plan was finally in effect. Of course, things were starting small; a few crumbling human cities here, a few blood stained streets there. Although a small phase, it was still great to be in action. So far, the commander's forces have reduced more than twenty human cities to rubble. The death toll has now exceeded 140,000. These attacks were not going to go unnoticed, but this was not a problem. The whole purpose of Phase one was to create chaos that couldn't be ignored.

Phase one of the Master Plan was going so smoothly that the large armored figure was even walking by his soldiers without yelling at them, a change that was well accepted. _Come, Palutena, _the figure thought, _come watch your world burn_.

Miles away, an angel named Pit was sleeping with no knowledge of the death and destruction. He had no idea that his world was about to come crashing down around him.


	2. Reveille

Pit awoke thinking he had heard his name, but not entirely sure.

"Pit, wake up!" a familiar voice shouted.

"What do you want?" Pit moaned half awake.

"For you to get off your sleepy ass," DK answered. "Do you even know what's happening?"

"You're being a pain in the ass, as usual," Pit retorted. He had now pulled himself out of bed and was now regaining his wits. As he looked around he saw his clock. The golden hands indicated that it was barely after five in the morning.

"Why are you waking me up so early?" Pit demanded.

"Wow, you really are clueless," DK snorted. "You're supposed to help me teach the recruits how to shoot straight. Lady Palutena's army only takes the best, after all."

In mere minutes, Pit had rushed out behind DK to the line of recruits waiting by the target range. For the most part, they showed promise. Pit didn't deny that there was a lot of work before they were ready to fight; he wasn't about to send them out to their deaths if they weren't ready.

For a moment, Pit reminisced about when he, himself, was in training. It was sixteen weeks of hell, pain, and struggle. When he came out, however, he was ready to take on the world.

"I said target seven, recruit!" Pit heard DK shout. "Do you know which target is target seven?"

"I…" the recruit began.

"No excuses," DK interrupted. "Just shoot the right target."

At times Pit wondered if DK enjoyed pushing around the recruits too much. At other times, Pit KNEW that DK enjoyed pushing around the recruits too much. This is what worked, though; it was just as the motto of their army said: "In order to build up, you must first break down."

After a day of shouting at recruits who didn't seem to know what end of a club was the handle, Pit was glad to give the recruits over to the next instructors.

"They're your problem, now," Pit said with a smile to the drill instructor. He watched the recruits leave the shooting range at a "double time".

When Pit looked to where DK was standing, he saw that he had left. _Probably to find Alena, _Pit thought with a laugh. _He can't seem to keep his eyes off her. _

With that thought, Pit left for the dining hall. The sun was now low in the sky and he was hungry as usual. Pit entered the dining hall to see Murphy holding the knife he called "Ripper" that he always carried with him.

"You keeping Ripper clean?" Pit asked smiling. Murphy held up Ripper into the light. The gold blade shined the sunlight into Pit's eyes, so that he had to look away.

"How do you even get it to shine like that?" Pit asked.

"It helps that it's made of Luz metal," Murphy laughed. "It can shine in the dark, too."

They talked on about a mixture of how frustrating working with the recruits is and the news about another attack on a human city for a while.

"You'd think we'd have taken more action," Murphy said.

"We think we know where the attacks are coming from," Pit began. "But we aren't sure who the attackers are. We've never seen an army like this."

The talk about the attacks died out quickly, though. A couple hours later, Pit was leaving the dining hall for the barracks. The sun had set by then and moonlight illuminated the surrounding area. There was a rustling and DK stumbled through some tall bushes out in front of Pit.

"What are you doing here?" Pit asked.

"It's none of your business," DK muttered.

"Were you with Alena?" Pit asked laughing.

DK stopped dead in his tracks. "I thought I said it was none of your business."

At this Pit started laughing. DK looked like he was going to say something, probably about where Pit could shove his curiosity, but instead stalked off. Pit watched DK leave, and then headed off to the barracks without any further interruption. When he reached his bed, Pit slumped onto it, but didn't fall asleep immediately. News about attacks on human cities was now a regular thing. He hated to think about what all this might mean. Pit decided that it was best to think about this the next morning and promptly fell asleep.


	3. First Encounter

Pit was grateful to wake up the next morning without DK shouting at him. He decided that it would be nice to visit the hot springs early, when it was still quiet. Without a sound, he set off. When he arrived, the air felt warmer and humid. Pit slid into the water and felt immense relaxation sweep over him. In the back of his mind, somewhere, there was a nagging worry, but as the hot spring water rippled and splashed, Pit ignored the thought.

After an amount of time that Pit found hard to keep track of, he pulled himself out of the water and began to leave the room when he heard a scraping noise somewhere to his right. In a fraction of a second, Pit had spun towards the source of the sound. There was no visible movement, but Pit was sure that he heard something.

Pit had just reached the bottom of the steps leading to the hot spring building when he heard his name, but not through his ears, but in his head. This didn't surprise him; he had used this communication many times before. It was the golden laurel crown he wore that allowed easy communication with the other angels and Lady Palutena.

"Lady Palutena?" Pit asked which he didn't need to; he knew her voice by heart.

"Pit, I need you to come to the mission room," The goddess replied. "It's important, so hurry."

Pit was already sprinting to the palace before Lady Palutena had finished speaking. In minutes, he dashed through the courtyard and halls to the huge seven meter high walls that lead to the mission room. Pit quickly composed himself and pushed open the doors.

Inside, Pit saw some of the lower ranking officers all standing around the mission planning table. In the middle of them stood…

"Lady Palutena!" Pit exclaimed. "What's going on? I heard…"

"Come over here and see," the green haired goddess said. "We're just waiting on…here he is."

No sooner had Lady Palutena said this than DK had rushed in the room. "This had damn better not be a drill. The world better be ending," he growled.

"If you look here, you'll see what the big deal is," Lady Palutena said calmly. As everyone gathered around the table, Lady Palutena waved her hand over it. There, above the table, a model of a city materialized. There were flames coming from some of the buildings and many have collapsed into large piles of rubble spread across the roads.

"What are we looking at?" DK demanded.

"This is the thirty fifth confirmed city to be attacked by the same enemy," Lady Palutena answered. "Our reports show they are ground and air based with numbers in the tens of thousands during their largest assaults. There are an estimated three hundred and fifty thousand deaths."

"Why have we been just sitting here and not helping?!" Pit shouted, startling even himself. When he looked at Lady Palutena he took a step back and clamped his mouth shut. "I…uh…"

"It's all right, Pit," Lady Palutena assured him. "Viridi has been sending her troops to fight this enemy. It was here scouts that brought us this information. However, her forces were not enough to stop the onslaught and so that is why I asked you all here."

At this, the others showed more interest. Fighting the enemy head on is what they knew best.

"When do we deploy?" one of the other officers asked, eagerness in his voice.

"As soon as you can gather a strike team," Lady Palutena answered. "Then come back here and you'll be deployed to where we believe a command post is."

Pit jumped on the order and made it to the training fields in record time. Many of the other angels looked at Pit in surprise when he sprinted over to them. A few looked like they were about to speak, but Pit cut across them.

"I need a strike team assembled now!" Pit ordered. To his approval, the others immediately assembled and followed him back to the palace. It had been a while since the last time there had been a full on combat mission and the troops were ready for action.

The feeling of soaring through the air right at the enemy was exhilarating. All three strike teams, seven in each, were flying in a small V shape. They flew over the ridge of a mountain and a Pit gave a start when he saw what was on the other side.

The complex must have covered a square kilometer. Lights gave a bright green glow below. Before they had time to take in the sight, the air filled with fire. Bright lances of energy cut through the sky around them, making the air smell burnt. Each group headed towards a different part of the complex, but no one broke formation.

When Pit's team was about twenty meters above the ground, there was a yelp and, when Pit looked to his right, he saw one of his number spin out of control. The rest of them landed safely, but the one who was hit was crumpled on the grey stone tile. He ran over to see who it was. Pit recognized her as Kat, one of the newer members of Lady Palutena's army.

Pit's worst fears were relieved when Kat opened her eyes and moved a bit. She let out a moan and looked down at her right leg. There was a good deal of blood and her skin looked slightly singed around the wound.

"It's okay," Pit said softly. "Can you stand on it?"

"I'll try," Kat managed. As she pulled herself up holding Pit's shoulder, she grimaced. She gingerly put weight on her right leg and nearly fell again. She caught Pit's arm to catch her balance and began to limp towards the others.

"I can keep up," Kat said. "We won't be moving very fast, anyway," she added when she saw the look of doubt on Pit's face.

"Well, I suppose," Pit admitted. "We'd better get a move on, then, if we're going to blast these suckers back to where they came from."

A jet of green flame narrowly missed DK as he dove behind a pillar on the south entrance to the complex. He peered around the pillar to see his attacker. The thing was at least two meters tall even though it was hunched over. It was covered in sharp, angular, grey metal plates. There were bright green lights around its body. Out of its left arm came a beam of energy that blasted the pillar DK was hiding behind apart.

For a moment, the world was spinning and ringing. When the vertigo stopped, DK look up to see the armored figure approach him. Before DK could react, there was a hail of fire from the rest of his team slamming into the figure. DK took his opportunity and grabbed a grenade from his belt and threw it and ducked. The explosion knocked the armored attacker off its feet. It didn't get up after that.

"Is anyone hurt?" DK shouted to his team.

"Nah, we're good," Murphy said as he emerged from behind a low wall.

"Good, then let's move!" DK ordered as he ran towards the large door ahead of them.

Far away, Lady Palutena watched the battle from her palace's planning table. A scraping sound broke her concentration for a moment. She looked around for the source of the noise. The sound started again, like steel on stone. It was coming from the main doors to the room. Lady Palutena took a quick glance at the battle, and then walked over to the doors. She opened them and peered down the hallway but there was nothing out of the ordinary. She closed the doors and headed back to the battle view.

"I must have imagined it," Lady Palutena reasoned, but not really believing it.

Pit took a moment to catch his breath after taking down a whole platoon of the metal soldiers. As tired as he was, he was nothing compared to Kat, who was surprisingly able to keep up. She looked paler than usual and was still limping.

"Lady Palutena, how exactly are we supposed to kill ALL of these things?" Pit inquired. "At the rate we're going, we won't be done till next week."

It wasn't Lady Palutena who answered, though. "I can help with that," announced a familiar voice. At that moment a swarm of plantlike creatures flew through the air and bombarded the area ahead.

"Viridi?" Pit asked. "You're here, too."

"You sound surprised," the goddess of nature said. "These barbarians are even more destructive to nature than humans, and that's saying something."

"The help is greatly appreciated, Viridi," Lady Palutena said. "This should turn the tide in our favor."

With the help of their nature based allies, the three strike teams carved through the complex's halls and tunnels. After several hours of fiery combat, the strike teams met in a courtyard that could hold a merchant ship.

"Is anyone dead?" DK asked.

"No, we're all here," Pit replied. "Who all is injured?"

"You saw my leg," Kat answered.

"Got my wing burned," another said.

"One of them slashed my side," a third said.

Pit knew that this could slow them down; three wounded soldiers would be their weakest link and make them all easy targets. Fortunately, he didn't need to deal with this.

"I think the forces of nature can take it from here," Lady Palutena announced. "I'll be extracting you now." As she said this, light came and surrounded the angels and pulled them skyward.

Lady Palutena looked around again. She was sure that she just heard the scraping sound again. Her attention was drawn away from this when a few meters away the strike teams materialized back in the war room. She would investigate the sound later. In the meantime, they needed to debrief and discuss this new enemy.


	4. Donar

Pit thought that the assault would put a dent in the plans of this new enemy. This happy thought was soon shattered when he was summoned to the war room again. Pit paused for a moment outside the doors, Lady Palutena didn't sound happy when she called for him. Mustering all the confidence he had, Pit pushed open the doors.

"Lady Palutena," Pit addressed, bowing. "You sounded upset. I came as fast as I-"

"Pit, hurry over here," The goddess said, a note of fear in her voice.

The angel ran over and a red light caught his eye. On the planning table there was a view of another human city. Buildings were crumbling and burning and there was chaos running rampant.

"There's no way," Pit began. "How can they already be on the offence again? I thought-"

"We're facing a larger force than we thought." Lady Palutena said grimly. "The assault two days ago didn't stop them. It barely even slowed them down. This attack here started yesterday. I need to send in another strike force… I take it you're willing to go in?"

"Heck, yea," Pit exclaimed. "How large a force do you need?"

"I was thinking we need a significantly larger force than before," Lady Palutena answered. "I'll be sending in fifteen standard size teams, that'll be a hundred and five. Hopefully this will be enough to save the city."

Once the strike force was assembled, they deployed a few kilometers from the edge of the city. It didn't take long before they could see the state of the city. Flame and smoke rose into the air. Buildings crumbled into rubble and they could see the bright green glow that had become familiar.

"You all know the plan," Pit shouted. "We start around the edge and work our way to the middle."

The fifteen teams spread out and shot towards their assigned areas. Pit turned his attention to his team's LZ. The second they landed, they saw four of the metal figures with their backs turned. Not a second was wasted and they fell under a hail of energy bolts and arrows. An unnoticed fifth figure emerged from behind a wall and sent a jet of flame right at one of the angels. Pit noticed and quickly cast a protective barrier in front of the flame. The flame was halted, but the armored attacker wasn't done. It charged but the angel who nearly was fried sidestepped and slashed the figure's side. To everyone's surprise, red blood came out of the wound. In the moment it hesitated, Pit raised his bow and sent a glowing blue arrow into its face. It fell with a thud and stopped moving. The angel who slashed it looked down and laughed.

"Didn't know they bled," he said. "I figured they was robots or somethin'"

"Robots," Pit repeated. "I'll admit, Murphy, robots would be kinda cool if they weren't blowing up everything that moves."

Pit realized that he never truly appreciated how big the city was until it was late afternoon and they still hadn't reached the center of the city. By the time they had fought their way to the center, it was nearly dusk. They met up with most of the others. They counted that they were missing two more teams.

"We can hold here until they arrive," DK suggested. "It's not like there's nothing to do until then."

The waves of the armored attackers proved this point. There was barely any time to think about the other teams, just more shooting.

"Hey," Murphy shouted. "O'er there, one o' the teams made it."

Sure enough, Pit saw them fighting their way to the center of the square. In this moment, Pit let his guard down and one of the armored figures got right in front of him. It shot out a clawed hand and lifted him by the throat. Pit dropped his bow and tried to pry the figure's fingers away. Pit looked down and saw that the figure's other arm had a long blade coming out of it. Pit tried to kick the blade away, but missed. The figure gave a rough laugh at his attempt.

Pit let out a scream of pain as the figure stabbed him in the chest. He felt the blade being pulled out of his body and he was thrown back. He slammed into a wall and slid down. The world looked hazy and felt like it was spinning. He distinctly saw several red flashes of light strike the figure that threw him. Pit looked down and saw that he was covered in his own blood. He wanted to call for help, but he couldn't make a sound except a gurgling in his throat. The taste of blood was strong in his mouth.

Pit was trying as hard as he could to stay awake, but this was a challenge. Where he was pierced, there was shooting pain, but the rest of his body was turning numb. He tried to speak again, but only a moan came out and blood came from his mouth. _Someone… help _Pit thought. The sounds of the fighting were growing fainter. Everything was feeling distant and vertigo swept over Pit. He realized that he was drifting and focused again on trying to stay awake. He saw someone standing in front of him. They reached down and pulled Pit up.

"I got ya," the voice said. "Don't die on me now… literally in this case. Yer gonna make it."

"Murphy…" Pit choked.

"Yea," Murphy said. "Come on, we're leaving."

"Wha' 'bout the last group?" Pit asked through gritted teeth.

Murphy hesitated a moment. "Don't worry about 'em" Murphy replied.

"Are they here?" Pit demanded. Murphy didn't answer. Pit wanted to say more, but at that moment he faded into unconsciousness.

Pit woke up trying to figure out where he was. After a moment, he realized he was in the medical wing in Skyworld. He wanted to move, but he was too tired. When he woke up the second time, he saw that there were others in the room. They were at a few different beds.

"Hrm," Pit managed. It was enough for one of the others to turn around.

"Hey, he's awake," They told the rest. They turned around and Pit saw that it was Kat in the other bed with the leg injury. She smiled when she saw him.

"You look like death," Kat laughed. "By comparison I look like I could run a marathon."

"Nice to see you, too," Pit replied. Suddenly he remembered the question he had tried to ask Murphy before he passed out. "Did the last strike team make it back?"

The looks on their faces answered his question immediately. Murphy stepped forward and answered.

"They're gone, Pit" he said quietly. "All of 'em."

"What?" Pit asked. "How do you know they aren't still down there?"

"We saw 'em," Murphy answered. "After you got hit they entered the square. A bunch of the metal things swarmed them and… they're gone."

These words struck Pit hard. He wanted to hide in a corner. Anger began bubbling inside him. If he never let his guard down, he wouldn't have ended up here and maybe he could have saved them.

As if he could read his mind Murphy said, "There wasn't anything any of us could've done. There were hundreds of those things. Don't blame y'self for it."

In the time that that followed, he couldn't stop thinking about what happened. The battle report came and he learned that they lost a total of eleven soldiers. Pit was in a hot spring (doctor's orders) when he was told some good news, for a change. Their latest engagement with the enemy seemed to have set them back. No further attacks had been reported. Pit was also feeling ready for action due to the doctor's help and the hot spring. All of this, though, was unable to make him stop thinking about the eleven he had lost.

"Seriously, Pit" DK told him when they were at the firing range. "You got to stop blaming yourself."

Pit didn't say anything, but his expression said it all. DK opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it and left Pit alone at the shooting range.

Back in the palace, Lady Palutena was looking over a map showing the areas that were attacked by the army of metal warriors. There were many lines, circles, and arrows drawn on it. Although, to anyone else the map would look like a bunch of scribble, she seemed to see something that made sense. She quickly started writing something down on her note pad. A scratching sound made her stop writing abruptly. It was the same sound she had heard multiple times before.

"I've had enough," she said. "Who's there?!"

"I am," a steely voice answered.

Hearing a response surprised the green haired goddess. "W-who are you?" she stammered.

"I am Donar," the voice answered. "I don't believe we've met in person."

"Reveal yourself, then" Lady Palutena demanded, regaining her confidence.

"As you wish," came the response. Lady Palutena heard the scraping sound again, but this time it came from behind her. She whirled around and saw the intruder. He stood at least two and a half meters tall and was completely covered in gray armor with small green lights. The armor was sharp and angular with hard edges and a savage look.

"Here I am," Donar said with amusement in his voice.

"You! You're one of them!" Lady Palutena shouted. "You've been destroying those cities!"

"Yes, I do take pride in my work," the intruder jeered. "Oh, and there's no need to call for guards or back up or whatever you call those weaklings."

"And why," Lady Palutena asked. "would that be?"

"Quite simply because they won't get here on time," Donar laughed. Before Lady Palutena could say anything further, he raised his arm and a bright green flash shot towards the goddess.


End file.
